Nancy Pelosi calls for ‘very long’ sentence for David DePape, who attacked her husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the court for a ‘very long’ sentence for the man who attacked her husband at their home more than a year ago, and Paul Pelosi says he is suffering still have dizziness, headaches, balance problems, nerve pain and difficulty walking afterwards. being hit by David DePape with a hammer.

Paul Pelosi revealed his ongoing health problems in a letter to a federal judge Friday before the sentencing of DePape, who was convicted last November of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer in October 2022. The judge sentenced DePape to 30 years in prison.

“I walk slowly and have difficulty with my balance. Almost every day I have headaches that turn into migraines unless treated promptly,” Paul Pelosi wrote. “I need to sleep during the day and cannot tolerate bright lights or loud noises for long periods of time.”

“For months, sleeping alone in my home was very difficult because I kept remembering the defendant who broke into my house,” Paul Pelosi said, continuing: “The defendant severely damaged the nerves of My left hand has been ‘degloved’ exposing raw nerves and blood vessels. Surgeries and treatments have mostly healed the skin, but underneath I still feel pinched nerves in my left hand. making basic tasks like using buttons, cutlery and simple tools more difficult.

The former House speaker, in her own letter to the court, asked for a “very long” sentence for DePape. She said the attack “filled me with great fear and pain.”

“A violent man broke into our home, threatened to kidnap me and – in his own words – forced my husband Paul to ‘accept punishment’ in my absence with a near-fatal attack with a hammer,” wrote the longtime California congresswoman.

She also said she and her husband never spoke about the attack.

“Paul and I did not discuss the events of that horrible night,” Nancy Pelosi wrote. “Paul doesn’t want to go back to it, and the doctors’ advice is that discussing this violent attack would only renew his trauma.”

In a separate letter to the court, his chief of staff, Terri McCullough, referenced the anxiety in the president’s office that arose following the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when rioters chanted “Where is Nancy?”

“We could not imagine that anything worse could happen to our world,” McCullough wrote. “And yet I did it, because of the actions of this defendant. ‘Where is Nancy?’ he asked. After Mr. Pelosi’s brutal attack in October 2022, we knew the Speaker and her family were not safe in their own home.

The Justice Department was seeking a 40-year prison sentence for DePape. DePape, 44, went on trial late last year on charges of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault against a member of a federal official’s immediate family. The jurors convicted him on both points.

DePape Early morning burglary at Pelosi home resulted in federal and state charges. A second trial in state court will begin in the coming weeks.

During tearful testimony during his federal trial, DePape admitted that he broke into Pelosis San Francisco home with the intention of taking the speaker hostage and “breaking her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He also admitted to bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police arrived, saying his plan to end what he saw as government corruption was falling apart.

The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was captured on police camera a few days before the midterm elections and sent shockwaves through the political world.

Defense attorneys argued that DePape was motivated by his political beliefs and not by a desire to interfere with the president’s official duties as a member of Congress, which would render the charges against him invalid.